Iranian designers should use conventional style and traditional details in their designs, says Pegah Khosravi, clothes designer and theater director.
It is important to add unique elements to a national garment like the ‘manteau’ that is different from the coat, because coats and manteaus are different apparels and have separate identities. “We should differentiate between our national apparel and that of the internationally known coat brands,” Khosravi said, quoted by Honaronline.
It is improper to imitate western designers and produce garments “having a negligible difference” with the original. While it is nice to be familiar with international fashion, however, “we must be able to create our own designs,” she said.
Khosravi is a theatre director who later stepped into fashion designing. She tries to break the common “so-called rules in the principles of designing.” She uses elements in a unique and functional way. In her view the designer should look “at the utility elements and apply them in their work.”
“The first thing to consider in fashion is color,” she said, adding that she carefully matches the colors to the season and environment in which the textile is used. The second is to observe ‘hijab’ (religious dress code) and make it indigenous and distinct from western styles.
Pointing to the potentials of traditional arts, she said: “I used Iranian hand-made works of art in my collection ‘Kohan’ (literally: archaic), which was tough work.” Needlework, mirror-work on fabric and inlay are among the traditional elements of her collection, welcomed by American and Europeans, she said. “It seems that Iranians have little interest in traditional artworks, but foreign visitors liked the collection.”
